Books
by Metal-Panda-Alex
Summary: Short fluffy one-shot. Liara brings some artifacts from her past to Shepard's cabin - and reveals a lifelong passion. FemShep/Liara. Mentions of Jack/Miranda. Takes place in the same universe as 'Clearly a Mistake' and 'Jack's Defeat'


**Mass Effect and all related characters and places are owned by Bioware - I just make them dance for my own amusement.**

**Written because I couldn't sleep, but didn't want my tiredness to affect the style of my ongoing works. This takes place in the same universe as 'Clearly a Mistake' and 'Jack's Defeat', and is set a little while after the later. Neither are required reading to understand this.**

**Dedicated to my best friend - for reasons I'm sure she can work out.  
**

**~xxx~**

A sigh escaped Freya Shepard's lips as she leant back upon her soft bed, her eyes closed to the dim light of her cabin. After the week's events, the only desire she had was for peace and quiet. First she had run into a group of mercenaries claiming to be made up of members of the 10th Street Reds – out for revenge against her after she had killed Finch. It had transpired that for a brief period, Jack had too been a member; she and Shepard soon scared the mercs off, but not before causing a good number of them to wet their hardsuits. And after that, there had been a health scare when Garrus appeared to have eaten non-Turian food – it had later transpired to be food poisoning. And finally, Miranda had decided it would be a good idea to show her sister around the Normandy. What she hadn't planned on was Jack attempting to surprise her, by jumping out of their bed, completely naked. Needless to say, Oriana would think twice before going anywhere near Miranda's 'mad girlfriend' again.

Yes, it had been a hell of a week. But Shepard had to admit – it had been a lot of fun. Despite the constant looming threat of the Reapers, the crew of the Normandy had given themselves several months shore-leave, to allow things to 'calm down' after the business with the Collectors. In that time, Shepard had insisted on every single Cerberus logo being stripped from both the Normandy's exterior and interior, but also from the uniforms of it's crew. She had barely concealed her delight when she saw the force with which Miranda tore the emblem from her uniform, and had since had every now-empty space filled with the logo of the Spectres.

She was torn from her thoughts by the sound of the door opening, and looked up, her eyes open again, to see who had entered the room. Unsurprisingly, she was met with the sight of Liara T'Soni walking towards her. She smiled and sat up, watching as the asari placed a rather large bag she had been carrying upon Shepard's desk, before making her way down to their bed and allowing herself to fall onto it, resting her head in Shepard's lap.

"Tired?" Shepard asked kindly, lacing her finger's with Liara's and squeezing her hand gently.

"Exhausted," the asari replied, with a smile of her own. "But already I feel better."

"How romantic," the Commander said with a smirk, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss upon Liara's lips.

"Did I miss anything?" Liara questioned, closing her eyes and nuzzling against Shepard's leg.

"Well, we found out that Joker is in fact a Reaper and Grunt is actually female," the human said matter-of-factly. Liara just raised an eyebrow. "...okay, actually it's been pretty quiet – though that could simply be because Jack and Miranda aren't here."

"Freya, they said they were sorry," Liara reminded her lover.

"Considering the mental scarring several of my crew endured, I don't think sorry cuts it," Shepard replied playfully. "The elevator is for moving about the ship, not having sex."

"I don't think they meant for it to stop at the CIC," the asari said, opening her eyes and looking up at the other woman. "You cannot be angry at young love."

"Someone's in a good mood today," Shepard remarked, her smile widening. "Something I should know about?"

"I'll show you," Liara replied, leaning forwards and getting to her feet. She led Shepard back up to the desk, and turned the bag she had brought upside down. Several rather ancient-looking books dropped onto the desk, some clearly identifiable as human-made by the design. Shepard reached for the nearest, and turned it over, wiping a thin layer of dust from the cover.

"'The Complete Works of Charles Dickens'," she read. Opening the cover to read the inside, her eyebrows raised. "'Printed in London, United Kingdom in 1875. Liara, this must be worth a fortune."

"These were given to me by my mother shortly before I left for an archaeological dig," the asari explained, picking up another dusty tome and gently tracing her fingers down the spine. "When I was a child, I loved reading. I would spend hours engrossing myself in tales from other worlds, other cultures. However, reading material as old as this......you can understand why I was still surprised by your species when we first met – you behave nothing like the people Dickens wrote about."

"I still can't quite get my head round it," Shepard replied with a smile. "Humans had barely made their mark on galactic society, and a young asari is sitting reading A Christmas Carol."

"My favourite," Liara said, placing the book down upon the desk and smiling wistfully.

"Read it to me," Shepard said simply, gazing at the other woman. Liara turned to face her, looking surprised.

"Read...aloud?" she questioned, her brow furrowed. The Commander nodded vigorously.

"Have I ever told you that your voice is like music to me?" the blonde asked, gently placing the book down upon the table and encircling Liara's waist with her arms.

"Now who's being romantic?" the asari said with a chuckle. Shepard simply smiled and placed a gentle kiss upon the other woman's lips, her face remaining close even after she withdrew her lips.

"Please."

"Very well," Liara said, shaking her head in amusement. "I take it you wish to keep hidden the fact that the Saviour of the Galaxy wants a bedtime story?"

"But of course," Shepard replied, already moving back down to the bed and flopping onto it. Liara smiled warmly at her through the model-ship rack, before picking up the book and following her lover down to their living area. Shepard patted the space beside her, and Liara of course did as instructed, curling herself into Shepard's side and resting her head against the Spectre's chest. "Comfortable?"

"Most definitely," Liara replied serenely. As Shepard began to softly stroke the tips of her crest, Liara began to read. "_Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that..."_

**~End~**_  
_


End file.
